Garmin advice

[simon72]

I have maps saved to the phone's memory. I've tested it in Sussex. I have plenty of (heavy) external battery packs. iPhone wins, thanks!

[summerwastin]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm going do some more research about the options mentioned. I'll let you know how I get on....

[bearlymoving]

magic "convert route to track" button

Load the track and in the lower window right click 'convert selected track to route' - magic!
Choose auto for the waypoints as you get less cluter and dont forget to choose points not flags - you will see why if you forget.

Very cool, thanks.

I'm on a Mac which seems a bit different to what you've described. There's no button to do it, but if you open the track's info window there's a "Create Route" option in the pull-down gear menu. You don't seem to be able to control how it does it (there are no options to select) but it appears to work well.

[ZeroDarkBivi]

Have suffered loads of Garmins over the years, and will continue to until a competitor releases something with similar functionality. I would advise using the Etrex 30. Good battery life and I prefer buttons to a touch screen. AAs are very light, compared to power-banks, accessible most places, last much longer than built in batteries and don't rely on a dynamo to recharge, which can be pretty useless on slow trails. I have had a few probes with my Etrex, but mostly it has been ok when you don't ask too much of it - like changing the zoom level often. I use free OSM mapping, downloading the tiles I need for a particular ride.

I recently purchased a new Edge 820 for roadie riding, and it is piss poor, even compared to my ancient Edge 800. The battery life sucks, it takes forever to change zoom level, crashes frequently and is a total PITA to configure. Even simple things like setting the units to metric, then next time I switch it on its back in miles. More useless eye-candy and functions I have no interest in, but fails to deliver the basics. Utter garbage!

Like I said, if anybody else made a unit that had the functionality I would ditch the Garmin, but I don't think we are there yet.

[BigdummySteve]

I have a Garmin 810, it appears to do the job and I have the whole of the uk OS mapping installed. Most of the time it's used as an expensive bike computer. My iPhone has OS maps, ridewithgps, NAVIGON, google maps and more basically loads of ways to navigate and find info, the battery life is ok ( it's the 7 plus) and I have a dyno and backup battery. The reason I like the phone is the clarity and size of the screen, OS maps at 1:25k are so much clearer than the Garmin and the extra screen estate gives me a better overview

Why in this day and age can't we have the performance of the iPhone but rugged with replaceable batteries etc.
Basically the Garmin is very low tech, if the battery lasted 3 days it wouldn't be so bad but I'm not sure it's much better than a well managed phone in airplane mode

[Ned Kelly]

I've been using OS 1:50,000 mapping on my iPhone which can be bought and pre-loaded for the whole of the UK for less than 100 quid now through Memorymap (Ordnance Survey's own outlet). It is really great mapping as it's the standard OS format which has been going since Neolithic times...probably? However, the drain on the phone's battery isn't good so anything over a few hours I need a back up battery bank, which is a bit of a faff! I just did the Braunton 150 using it, and a guy I was riding with had a Garmin Etrex 30. Neither of us got lost with our alternative devices & we both cross referenced each other during the ride, so couldn't say which out performed in not getting us lost! I did have an issue with my iPhone charger lead stop working (I think most iPhone users can relate to that), but fortunately my mate happened to have a spare with him...without that, I would have been screwed!!

So with that, I'm now considering the Garmin option?...I do have a Garmin Edge 810, so I'm wondering is there's an adequate mapping system for that like on the Etrex???...I hate technology...and it hates me!!

[ootini]

Sorry for the hijack, I've just bought myself an Etrex 20. Does anyone have any recommendations on a decent mount? I'd like one that's adjustable around 90* as I've not yet decided if I'll mount it on the bars or on the stem itself. I've heard people aren't happy with the cable tie affair, but can't really find any other alternatives.

[sean_iow]

I use the standard garmin one and don't have any problems with it. You need to make sure it has clicked in when putting the garmin on the mount and even then I would strongly recommend a tether as well in case it does come out. Mine came out of the mount on the Braunton but luckily it was tethered to the bars. I don't think I put it on the mount properly when I changed the batteries in the middle of the night. Also, make the tether long enough that you can change the batteries without unclipping it which prevents forgetting to re-attaching that by accident. I have access to some cable tie pliers which makes getting the cable ties nice and tight easier and I'd suggest using quality cable ties. Some of the cheap 'market stall' ones are junk and either come undone or stretch. My tool is like the one below.

[ianfitz]

Sorry for the hijack, I've just bought myself an Etrex 20. Does anyone have any recommendations on a decent mount? I'd like one that's adjustable around 90* as I've not yet decided if I'll mount it on the bars or on the stem itself. I've heard people aren't happy with the cable tie affair, but can't really find any other alternatives.

The garmin one has holes for zip ties that face both ways so it'll work on bars or stem